Ideal World: Metta makes 3's and finishes strong

Metta World Peace had made nine 3-point shots this season. He had missed 46.

That was a 16.4 percent success rate.

Lakers coach Mike Brown likes to review statistics, but in this case, he has been looking at an intangible.

When I asked Brown before the Lakers' game in Toronto on Sunday if he wanted World Peace to continue shooting or cut back, Brown said: "He's got to take it."

"And the reason why I say he's got to take it is he works at it. If you take Kobe (Bryant) out of the equation, just from what I've seen from our team, he's probably the hardest-working guy at it. He knows he's struggling from there, but he's confident about it and he works at it. As long as I see that, I'm not going to tell anybody not to shoot."

World Peace, meanwhile, said before the game: "No, I never struggle."

Well, anyway ... the first play of the game, World Peace let fly a 3-pointer and made it. The Lakers controlled most of the game thereafter. With the Lakers' lead down to 56-53, World Peace was left along to take and making another one after Bryant was double-teamed in the post.

World Peace seems to prefer starting but he is not content with not being back out there to finish games. He is making only half his free throws, making him a further liability on offense, but World Peace pointed out the Lakers' recent results correlate to whether Brown plays him down the stretch or not.

He made a case Sunday with the "little things" he says he can contribute at winning time but said he's not trying to prove anything -- only help.

"If we win, you won't hear my mouth," World Peace said.

Brown acknowledged that it's difficult for him to get World Peace in the post for scoring opportunities now after initially planning for that to happen often when World Peace wasn't starting and often was playing without Bryant and Pau Gasol on the floor. With Bryant, Gasol and Andrew Bynum dominating the post, World Peace is often getting spot-up 3-point shots when they are double-teamed.

"It's a little tougher with him playing on the first unit now," Brown said. "There are not enough opportunities."

World Peace has shot 36 percent on 3-pointers each of the previous two seasons, making more than one 3-pointer a game. For his career, he's at 34 percent.

By going 2 for 3 on Sunday on 3-pointers, he's up to 19 percent. World Peace said after the game it'd be interesting what would happen if he were on a bad team that needed his offense more.

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